Jennifer,
 
>
>Has anyone seen " Hoop Dreams " ? Or any other film which used video as
>an aquisition medium?
>
 
I've seen it (a WONDERFUL movie, far more exciting than anything I've seen
in recent months) and you can tell that it was shot on Beta. But who cares?
The material was so riviting, I wouln't have care if it was shot as a Super 8.
I think _NATURAL BORN KILLERS_ used video as one of it's too many mediums.
 
 
>I am fascinated by the prospect of being able to access non linear
>editing equipment and still be able to produce decent looking films.  If
>the process can be done on anything approaching a decent budget (like
>around $10-$20,000 for a finished print with negative) then I am even
>MORE interested.
 
As far as I know, you can still shoot on 35mm and use nonlinear editing - in
fact most films are made this way (first one that comes to mind was
_NEEDFUL THINGS_ where they used the AVID system and a wonderful 45"
computer monitor that had to be calibrated to the curvature of the Earth :-)
 
James